>> "inside washington" is brought you in part by the american federation of government employees, proud to make america work. for more information about afge and membership, visit afge.org. >> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and politico, reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. >> just going to keep on keeping on until every single person out there who needs to vote is going to go vote. >> this week on "inside washington," the end game. the last debate. >> nothing governor romney said is true.

>> attacking me is not attacking the challenges in the middle east. >> the women's vote and the return of the abortion debate. >> i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that is something that god intended to happen. >> by colin powell endorsement. >> i was proud and hobbled to learn that we have colin powell's support in this campaign. >> you have to wonder if that is an endorsement based on issues or if he has a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> all was there. the election this two weeks away, and both candidates are running as if there is no tomorrow. >> this is the first on our 48-

hour flight-around campaign marathon extravaganza. we are going to pull an all- nighter. no sleep. >> no question about it, we're seeing more and more enthusiasm, or more support. >> the economy grew at an annual rate of 2%. not great, but better than expected. right here i have a very shaky limb and i will ask you to step out on it. the election were held tomorrow, mark, and who would win? >> i should not go out on any limb, given my weight. barack obama would win based upon the superior effort of the obama campaign at this point and in turning out early voters. >> evan ? >> obama, but we still have a way to go. >> nina? >> i hate doing this, but obama

because of the crown them. >> colby? >> national tracking polls has of them close, but the key battleground states, obama still holds a lead. >> what is the ground game, mark? >> the organized effort over months to identify and not only support -- identified not only supporters, but leaners, and persuade them on how one by one retail basis. weeks before election day, you know who your voters are. you want to be sure you get the vote. >> in many of the battle ground states, obama has more field offices. >> it is down to micromanaging, micro-issuing these of votes. interestingly, the republicans had a better ground game in 2004, and a lot of people think that is why and they won that close election.

it sort of fell into disrepair today are building it back up now, but i don't think they are anywhere near where obama is yet. >> there is another question. which candidate has the most d.c. asked to come most engaged, most dedicated supporters? >> that is a hard one to answer. clearly after the first debate, the republican party at everly and these as to support their. romney did do well compared to obama. there was disappointment with obama among democrats after the first debate. i think he has started to regain some of that because it is performances, but the first debate at a tremendous impact on the race. >> wherever obama goes, you hear him say, come out and vote, you have to. >> he relies on groups that have low turnout rates paid blacks, hispanics, people he needs and

that catapulted him to the top in 2008. remember, there was a big turnout in 2008. those people lack the passion today and he needs to get them out. >> the pew research center and a harvard university poll indicates, it if they are accurate, that fewer young people are going to turn at this time than last time. >> i don't think you really need a survey to tell you that treat your own eyes, your own experience can tell you that. i don't know anybody who says that young people are going to vote more this year. >> one thing obama has is this data mining think, this state of the arctic about -- this state of the art data mining thing. >> a comment during a debate made by the indiana senate candidate richard mourdock, who has been endorsed by mitt romney.

>> i came to realize that life is a gift from god, and even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, it is something that god intended to happen. >> that is the tea party's richard mourdock, who defeated federer in a foreign policy expert richard lugar and i be senatorial -- in the indiana senate for a primary bid the romney campaign said that they did not reflect his views. the women's votes -- obama has been losing some of the women's vote to romney. >> rebalancing, the first debate not that mr. mourdock said anything -- it is obvious what he was thinking. on the other hand, what he was thinking clearly is that rape much less important than preserving a life, and for a lot of women, saying that rape isn't

all that important is a very unfortunate thing. romney has disagreed with them, but he has not taken back the ad he's running for mourdock. >> every time you watch the cable this shows now, you see someone from planned parenthood, or another group pro-abortion or so forth. the obama people are running with this ball, colby. will it have legs? >> i think it will have an impact. it calls attention to paul ryan, who shares the same view that there should be no exception for rape, abortion in case of rape or anything else, except that ryan's principled position gives way to politics and he is willing to buy the mitt romney position that there should be exceptions. think people made

up their minds on this issue years ago? >> they have, but it is a matter of getting people out on voting day to the polls. >> we will look back if mitt romney wins and say that the first debate is important as was the first debate in 1960 when john kennedy close to the experience gap between himself in richard nixon, who had been vice president for eight years now, he retreated himself as moderate massachusetts mitt and that enabled him to talk to women in suburban areas. as far as richard mourdock is concerned -- i will be blunt, i am a joe donnelly man in that race. i think richard mourdock would be a disaster. what he was stating was a consistent principle. if you believe that god creates every life, then the conditions under which that occurred, as tragic and is personally painful as they might be -- he is talking about the likely he was not defending rape --

>> she tried to make clear. >> which he did in artfully. >> i think the president has a good chance to take this county and this town, but governor romney has been running fairly strong campaign. >> that is the mayor of leesburg, in a loudoun county, virginia, a bellwether county. one for barack obama four years ago but then went republican a year later in the gubernatorial election. as of friday morning, according to the real clear politics average, the state is tending towards romney. president obama and romney of the so much time in virginia and ohio that they will have to start paying taxes in both states. that's run the table at a grant states, mark -- let's run the table of battleground states, mark. >> ohio remains beyond romney's

grass at this point, a large part because obama is doing better with white voters that he is across the country, in large part in the north and west of ohio and northeast of ohio, the industrial belt where the auto bailout made a difference. it is so much of a problem for romney there that rob portman on thursday, introducing romney in defiance, ohio, to a huge crowd, said, "we have got to talk about this auto bailout thing tonight." they are still trying to explain it. >> can romney win without ohio? >> yes, but it is a tough one to reach. if obamacare is ohio, he will carry it was gone -- if obama carries ohio, he will carry wisconsin and it will be a difficult reached for romney. >> a virginia? >> virginia will still probably end up in obama's camp.

>> i just look at the polls when we started the program. romney is up by one point or two. >> you can pick your polling and in virginia, because another shows that obama is up in virginia. but he has been running strong in virginia, and with the heavy onslaught by romney, it still shows the northern virginia area, which will be very important, but much supports barack obama. >> new hampshire could be in play. >> new hampshire traditionally was a republican state did it only became a presidentially democratic relatively recently. >> when bartlet came along. "west wing." >> unless he gets a surge that covers most of the states, it if he loses ohio and iowa or ohio

and wisconsin, he has to run the table in everyone. >> you get confused unless you are i just keep trying to figure out the permutations. everybody agrees that the path is clear and simpler for obama and romney. it is ccbc the combination -- >> a lot of talk about potential ties. >> which i think it's a reach. but let's be blunt, the momentum is in romney's direction and has been since the first debate. the margin is closing, rather than expand come in all of these battle ground states. nina mentioned new hampshire. only three states between 2000 and 2004 from a bush-court to bush-carrikerry. that is how closely divided the country was then and it remains now. >> there is a counter view, and

it comes out in the huffington post, that the so-called romney surge is a myth when you look at the battle ground states and the national polls, which showed them very close. hardly a point where you can say that momentum has carried romney ahead of barack obama. titanic, yes, but momentum to the point where he would -- >> romney was dead in the water until the first debate. >> of course. >> he has had a surge. i tend to think the surge is over. but that surges what made him a contender. >> what was it about that debate that just change the tide? is thea's arrogance single biggest problem. it showed him sleepy, and different, why am i here. at the last debate, that he won, he was a bit too much of a put down artist. with women voters especially, that is a problem. >> horses and bayonets, that thing?

>> it wasn't just that obama did poorly but it is that romney did well and became, as mark said, moderate mitt. that is where people in the republican party traditionally move after the primary, and he had not, he had been savaged by obama in an avalanche of bad, and he redeem himself in the debate. >> we have this a fiscal problem looming on january 2. a report by the association of national manufacturers indicates that the fiscal cliff is already hurting the economy. "the wall street journal" -- more than 80 c.l.'s are coming together to put heat on congress. where is this going to go? >> it ought to result in congress making changes to keep us from going over the cliff. the statement of the ceo's is significant in that they said

what everybody else knows what has to happen. there needs to be some revenue -- >> tom mitt romney paul ryan -- l. mitt romney and paul ryan. >> why is it not happening? you cannot do anything between now and the election, but you can do something in january. as we mentioned before, a steady improvement in the economy, an improvement that would benefit the next president, by the way. >> 2% growth is pretty -- >> i welcome the cliff. congress is just a hopeless, completely hopeless. it will take over the cliff to get the deal could i am hopeful that we will get a deal, and want measurement is a businessman, who don't like taxes, getting together and

saying, hey, taxes. >> "i will elcome the cliff" by at the thomas. >> evan always thinks that if it gets really bad, the problem will solve itself. wrong. it has just gotten worse. >> i respect the ceo's. i wonder where they were when we were trying to work out a debt ceiling arrangement i wonder where they were when mitt romney's 1 or promise, 20% across-the-board tax cut, and how you achieve any kind of sanity on debt and deficit without that is beyond my comprehension. >> maybe he doesn't believe that, either. >> mark made excellent put on this, that if we get this solved, it would be better with

barack obama as president and mitt romney. he is so dug into his position. he is so dug into his position that i not see how he could get an agreement. behalf,tt romney's doesn't like that imus around move to -- doesn't the fact that he does move are out work to his advantage? >> democratic senate, republican house, which he washy president, it i -- wishy washy and, it could be the makings of a deal. >> not if you have a president who is not willing to lean on his own party. obama has been willing to do that. the question is if romney would be willing to lean on his tea party wing. >> are we going to have a democratic senate? >> white and looks increasingly like we will have a democratic -- once again in looks and charisma and like we will have a democratic senate, and the rebel against have once again blown it by not putting -- the

republicans have once again blunted by nominating people like richard mourdock. in massachusetts, elizabeth warren has a lead today in virtually every poll. herb stein, and richard nixon's principal economist and a wonderful man, said that this is the year that we have to deal with the real budget deficit or the year that we have to ignore and get over the fact that we're ever going to do with the budget deficit. this is the moment. we have to do it. do it this time or we accept the fact we're going down a road of increasing debt. >> about the house? still republican? backthink, again, let's go to that first debate. obama stumbled, and caused a lot of democrats to have trouble as well.

the race has shifted. >> republicans have done redistricting. democrats have steadily lost. i think it is miraculous that it took the house, and it is a steep climb after this redistricting. the status quo were to remain the same, it would have had the chance of picking up 10 seats that are now beyond their reach. >> we talked a lot about the first debate pits talk about foreign policy and the final presidential debate. >> both at home and abroad, he has proposed reckless policies and he has praised george bush as a good economic steward and dick cheney as someone with great judgment and wisdom. >> attacking me is not an agenda. attacking me is not talking about how we deal with the challenges in the middle east. >> charles krauthammer is off

this week, but after the debate, i heard him say on fox news that romney had won a debate not just tactically, but strategically. in this week's column, he said that the president's tone petty ends on that romney looked presidential bid -- petty and small that romney looked presidential. >> mitt essentially agreed with president obama on all of the key issues. >> sound like he was running for secretary of state to succeed hillary clinton. >> he agreed with him on a afghanistan, iraq, iran. he was trying to tone down and become residential -- i don't know if that was the case. he was set back on his heels by obama's direct challenge him. i know that he looked presidential at all. -- i don't think he looked

presidential at all. he was captive to his talking points and once he got off the talking points, all he could do was there. >> he said a lot of nasty things in the primary process that russia is our biggest enemy, sounding like he wanted to bomb iran tomorrow, trade was with china on day one. thank god he was pulling back on all that stuff to the was the red meat he was feeding the right -- >> how do we know which mitt is mitt? it really is astonishing. to listen to that foreign policy and unseeded, which was just -- forieng policy enunciated, which was just a mirror, and then to look back to what he said it weeks ago, it makes you wonder what he really wants to do as president. >> he wants to be president. [laughter] >> he is full of mitt, he really

is. [laughter] he used the word "peace" three times in two sentences, more than eight had been used to the entire campaign, and said that we don't want another iraq. it came down to i am not dick cheney, i am not donald rumsfeld, and i do think the debate, while the president is more knowledgeable and more in control and command, too intense -- he came across to intense and he did not get a break that he needed in the campaign. he won the debate. gallup, among independents, he won it two to want, but he did not get the edge -- >> he did not get the edge -- >> and he could not, because while he did well in the second and third debate, nothing could overcome what he did in the first debate.

he let people down, he let himself down. >> republican colin powell and horses barack obama. > -- endorses barack obama. >> you have to wonder if that is based on issues or if he has a slightly different reason to endorse president obama. >> what reason would that be? >> if you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the nine states, i applaud colin for standing with him. >> john sununu said that he did not doubt that powell's support for obama was based on anything but his policies. obama is suffering a deep drop in support from white voters. >> lack of a busy as and. > -- lack of enthusiasm.>> is t?

>> well, let's focus on john sununu. for john sununu, a moment's thought is a moment wasted. [laughter] he knew what he was saying. >> he had dug himself into a hole and he felt there was about it -- >> word in defense of john sununu. he has laid out a formulation that colin powell should be proud supporting barack obama because they are of the semis, which means that, obviously, john sununu, being white, is proud to be supporting mitt romney did john sununu is, believe me, and i've known him for a long time -- he is writing a new book called "dale carnegie was wrong," and it will not be a bestseller. [laughter] >> everybody has crazy uncles in the attic, and romney has john sununu, and he has donald trump, who is offering $5 million if the president will release --

>> he won't keep senate in the attic. -- sununi is in the attic. >> colby is right, they are putting him out regularly. they are not putting out stavridis or spokespersons that are not speaking with the unspoken. obama had a good line about, on the leno show. >> "it also g -- all goes back when we were playing soccer in kenya." probably the best line i've heard the president delivered in the whole campaign. >> unfortunately, people out there will say, "c, i told you." >> "i did not know that donald trump was kenyan." >> almost at the finish line.

see you next week. >> "inside washington" is brought you in part by the american federation of government employees, proud to make america work. for more information about afge and membership, visit afge.org.